1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device having a photo-alignment layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is generally known that a liquid crystal consists of anisotropic molecules. The average direction of the long axes of liquid crystal molecules is called the director of the liquid crystal. The director distribution in a liquid crystal is determined by the anchoring energy on a substrate, and is characterized by a director corresponding to a minimum of the surface energy of the liquid crystal and the anchoring energy. The director is rearranged by an electric field generated during operation of a liquid crystal display device (LCD). An LCD comprises two opposed substrates having liquid crystal therebetween.
In general, to obtain uniform brightness and a high contrast ratio, it is necessary to align the liquid crystal molecules uniformly in the liquid crystal cell. Several techniques have been proposed using polymers to obtain single or mono-domain homogeneous alignment of liquid crystals. Particularly, it is known that polyimide or polysiloxane-based materials have high quality and good thermostability. The most common technique employed as an alignment method to obtain a mono-domain liquid crystal cell involves forming microgrooves on the surface of the alignment polymer, which provides strong anchoring and stable alignment. In the above-mentioned technique, known as the rubbing method, a substrate coated with an alignment polymer is rubbed with a cloth. The rubbing method is a rapid method which can be applied to large scale LCDs, and thus is widely used in the industry.
The rubbing method, however, has several serious drawbacks. Because the shape of the microgrooves formed on the alignment layer depends on the rubbing cloth and rubbing intensity, the resulting alignment of the liquid crystal is often heterogeneous, causing phase distortion and light scattering. Further, an electrostatic discharge (ESD) generated by rubbing of the polymer surface further generates dust contamination in an active matrix LCD panel, decreasing production yield and damaging the substrate.
In order to solve these problems, a photo-alignment method has been proposed using a polarized ultraviolet light irradiated onto a photosensitive polymer to photo-polymerize the polymer (A. Dyadyusha, V. Kozenkov et al., Ukr. Fiz. Zhurn., 36 (1991) 1059 W. M. Gibbons et al., Nature, 351 (1991) 49 ; M. Schadt et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 31 (1992) 2155 ; T. Ya. Marusii and Yu. A. Reznikov, Mol. Mat., 3 (1993) 161 ; EP 0525478 ; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,823xe2x80x94a polyvinyl-fluoro cinnamate patent). The alignment capability of the photosensitive polymer is determined by the anisotropy of the photosensitive polymer, which is induced by ultraviolet light irradiation.
In the photo-alignment method, an alignment layer is given an alignment direction by irradiating a substrate coated with a photo-alignment material with a linearly polarized UV light. The photo-alignment layer comprises a polyvinyl cinnamate-based (PVCN) polymer, and as linearly polarized UV light is irradiated, the polymer photo-polymerizes through cross-linking. Cross-linking is generated among the polymers by the UV light energy.
In terms of the direction of the photo-polymers, the alignment direction of the photo-alignment layer has a specific direction in relation to the polymerization direction of the linearly polarized UV light. The alignment direction of the photo-alignment layer is determined by the direction of the photo-polymers. The pretilt angle of the photo-alignment layer is determined by the incident direction and the irradiating energy of the irradiated UV light. That is to say, the pretilt angle direction and the pretilt angle of the photo-alignment layer are determined by the polarized direction and the irradiating energy of the irradiated UV light.
With regard to photo-alignment, a polarizer is rotated in an arbitrary angle on each domain of the LCD. Then, in response to irradiating UV light, the polarization direction is changed, whereby a multi-domain LCD cell is achieved with multiple domains having different alignment directions in relation to each other.
The photo-alignment method, however, has several drawbacks. For example, it is impossible to apply on a wide scope. Most importantly, low photo-sensitivity of the photo-alignment material results in reduction of anisotropy and thermostability.
UV light irradiation takes a long time using conventional techniques, from approximately 5 to as long as 10 minutes. Low photo-sensitivity and small anisotropy make the anchoring energy of the final photo-alignment layer weak. Moreover, when the liquid crystal is injected into the LCD, it is required that the injection be made at a high temperature. Low thermostability induces a flowing effect on the substrates, which can be observed as a ripple pattern in the liquid crystal upon injection between the substrates. Finally, disclination owing to the uniform alignment of liquid crystals remains as a problem to be solved.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a LCD that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide an LCD having good thermostability and photo-sensitivity.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the liquid crystal display device of the present invention comprises first and second substrates, an alignment layer including a pyranose or a furanose polymer on at least the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer between the first and second substrates.
The liquid crystal display device of the present invention preferably comprises a second alignment layer on the second substrate. The second alignment layer includes a material selected from the group consisting of a pyranose polymer, a furanose polymer, polyvinyl cinnamate, polysiloxane cinnamate, polyvinyl alcohol, polyamide, polyimide, polyamic acid and silicone dioxide.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.